Dec 12, 2015

I am SO happy to tell you I am one of the 50 selected illustrators for the big Ilustrarte 2016 exhibition in Lisbon / Portugal next January!

This Summer they asked people all over the world to send in their work, so they could make a selection. Over 1700 people from 72 countries did sent in work.

And I was one of them...

Although I didn't think I would have much chance, but I wanted to give it a try.
You never know.... Nothing ventured, nothing gained....

And I am so glad I did, because some time ago I openend an e-mail with congratulations: my work was chosen for the exhibition and the catalogue. Can you imagine how happy I was?

See here the winner, the special mentions and the list of selected illustrators.

I did sent in three giclee prints of some illustrations I made for the big haikubook 'Stil verwateren' in the beginning of this year. I also did send the big haikubook with 1001 haiku's and 71 illustrations.

The organizers of the festival also asked for a translation of the title 'Stil verwateren'.
That is not easy, because it's a poëtic title with various meanings.

On de Facebook page of author Geert De Kockere we asked his fans to help. It was so nice to get all this support! Interesting suggestions were given.

I also asked a friend and ex-collegue, a native speaker, who lives in Holland for help. And between his suggestions was: Soluble Silence. That directly spoke to me. The author made it into 'In Soluble Silence' and we did have an english translation ;-)

In January the exhibition will take place in the Electricity Musem. The opening is on the 21th of January. We are planning to go there, because I love to see it. I think it will be a great experience with lots of great work to see and nice people to meet! And of course to visit Lisbon. Seems like a good start of the year.

I've been quiet here lately, I had a good reason. I was working on a new book: 'Tussen oevers van fluitenkruid': 1001 haiku's (in Dutch) and 71 illustrations made by me. In this post you can see some of them. I continue this post in Dutch, but the illustrations are international ;-)

Jul 14, 2015

On Instagram I joined The 100 Day Project a few month ago. I chose the subject: Animal Characters. and today I published my 100th Animal! I made it!!

It was a fun journey. In the beginning I was in doubt if there would be enough 'drawable' animals for me. Now I know there are. No problem ;-)

Sometimes I drew the same animal twice, as the lion and the elephant, but a different character. I all gave them names with an alliteration. (I also gave them Dutch names)

Some animals were easy, others took more time. Annie Alligator wasn't that difficult and she still is one of my favorites ;-)

I never drew a mole before for example....here's a shy one ;-)

The funny thing of such a project is, it not only motivates to create something new each day, but also in the end you have a whole collection.

Remember my face a day project? A project I did for a whole year, 365 days. So 100 days was much more easy to achieve.

This project doesn't stop here. I have lots of material to continue. I want to 'deepen' some characters. Place them in other environments and play with emotions and letters It's a rich source. I'm happy with it!

And maybe, maybe, maybe they will appear in a book.Who knows...?
I'm working on it :-) This project certainly will be continued...

Other participants in this exibition are a.o. Celine Schroeder, Loes van Oosten and Patrice Aarts The exibition will last till the end of September.
(During half Of July till half of August the galerie is only open on Saturdays)

Let me tell you a little about the work I made for this exhibition:

Delft has its famous delftblue paintings, so I thought it would be nice to do something with that, but ofcourse differently.

The first set I made Dutch 'Partyhats' blue line-drawings with the famous Dutch houses as hats.

Delftblue is often painted on plates, cups and pots, so I also made a set Dutch Teaparty cards with legs and high heels. I din't know teapots could be that sexy...;-)

Because of the Holland theme is often used in delftblue, I couln't resist to make a set of Dutch Tulips

So If you planning a Holiday in Holland, it maybe would be nice to visit this is (not) Delft...
All these postcards are also available in the Red Cheeks Factory shop

Friday the 3d of July they have an opening party. I made this illustration with their beautiful poster (made by Kirsten Zuiderbaan)

The shop has already opened their doors. I visited it last wednesday to bring some copies of the book 'stil verwateren' which I recently made. The shop looks beautiful!

They have a huge card rack with all kinds of cards (also mine). And each designer presents their produccts on special made tables and fourniture. Really very nice to see and to walk around. Some of my products are presented like this:

If you are in the neighbourhood. Go and have a look. Unfortunately I will not be at the opening But I think it will be quite a party :-)

Jun 20, 2015

Today I visited the exhibition of Dutch illustrator Lobke van Aar in 's Hertogenbosch. It's her first solo exhibition where she shows work she made during the last 7 years. I know Lobke and her work only via Facebook, so this was a nice opportunity to meet her and see her lovely work in real :-)

I visited the exhibition together with illustrator Connie Snoek, which I also only know from Facebook. We met and had lunch together in the Verkade Fabriek in Den Bosch. Nice to meet two collegues on one day (In Holland we call that: 'twee vliegen in één klap' :-))

The exhibition is in the beautiful restaurated old Willem 2 Building, where Lobke also has her studio. A really inspiring environment!

It was very nice to hear Lobke talk about her work. That made it even more special. She makes illustrations for newspapers, magazines, books and personal projects. It was fun to hear some stories behind it.

Also nice to see her development in these last 7 years. I must say, I almost love everything she makes, also her early works. Lots of diversity, but always her clear own voice. I'm a fan :-)

The exhibition will take place till the end of next week: the 28th of June. If you are in the neighbourhood, go and have a look and give Lobke my kind regards ;-)

Jun 18, 2015

This was already the last month of the MATS Bootcamp. This year I only joined the april assignment and this last June assignment. It was an editorial one: Make an illustration that goes along with an article about digital nomads. Here's my interpretation:

In the beginning of this month we got the mini - assignment: drawing people. My heart made a little jump, because it's my favorite subject (together with faces and animals) I was quite busy, but because I loved the theme so much I could find some time to experiment drawing people. These were the first ones with pencil:

After that I experimented with tis dancing couple. I experinmented with a limited color- palette. It could be a nice postcard, don't you think?

And I drew more people in a limited color palette I really want to develop this further. I like to watch people on the street and I almost want to draw everybody. So many interesting characters... ;-)

Maybe I need to take another challenge after my animal character project on Instagram: Drawing people for 100 days...who knows....;-)

Jun 13, 2015

Elle Aime is a very nice craft and desirgn shop, just around the corner from where I live. Zwaanshals, Rotterdan Noord. So it was extra special when Lisa, the owner of the shop asked me to join this Mini-Market. Together with 11 other designers / illustrators.

For me it is also a very nice opportunity to present the book 'stil verwateren' which I recently made with Flemish author Geert De Kockere.
The reactions were heart warming :-)

Also very nice and inspiring to meet the other designers, who show and sell their work on this Mini market. Tomorrow (Sunday, the 14th) there's another chance to visit Elle Aime. Open at 12 o'clock till half past 5. I will be there too! If you are in the neighbourhood, come and say hello! You are more than welcome!

May 28, 2015

It 's a very inspiring and cheerful blog, with all kind of patterns and lots of other whimsical stuff. Every day some new inspiration. And today it's my turn. That makes me happy and I feel honoured :-) You can find the blogpost here

I must say the 'make art that sells' e-course I did with Lilla Rogers gave me a lot of inspiration to make these works. Some of them I even made during this inspiring course, so thank you, Lilla! :-)

May 23, 2015

Today we visited the big Matisse exhibition in het Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
Really very inspiring!

Last year I wanted to go to the Tate Gallery in London to see the Matisse exhibition, but we didn't found the time. So I was very happy to hear there would be an exhibition in good old Amsterdam this year :-)

We took a guided tour, which was very nice, because we heard more background about this exhibition. Good to see a combination of paintings of artists who iinfluenced each other. Works of Van Gogh, Mondriaan, Picasso, Malevich....

I didn't know Matisse's cut-outs were this size. Impressive! Interesting to see the devellopment of how he came to this cut-outs. Below the famous Parakeet and the Mermaid, one of his most spectaculair cut-out works: a coming together of an underwater and above water world:

Here's one detail of a cut -out work which he made for a tapestry. These are also shown at the exhibition.

My dearest brother in front of one of his cut-out works ;-)

For this exhibition Dutch illustrator Annemarie van Haeringen made a beautiful childrensbook: The parakeet, the mermaid and the snail. She tells a bit more about it in this video

In the hall of the museum you can find a giant drawing of hers:

I think I wanna go another time, because there is so much to see and discover. The exhibition takes place till half of August. So if you are in the neighbourhood. It is certainly worthwile to visit!